A Spanish woman has won recognition as the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy landowner and now lays claim to a 15 million euro (£9.9 million) inheritance.

Sofia Reguera, 63, won her five year legal battle to be formally recognised as the daughter of a Spanish gentleman who died in 1970 after a DNA test proved she was the half-sister of his only legal heir.

Mrs Reguera claimed her mother worked as a maid at the family home of the wealthy family outside Seville and began a relationship with the only son.

"They were very much in love and their relationship lasted five years," said Mrs Reguera on a Spanish television chat show broadcast on Wednesday evening.

But when Mrs Reguera's mother fell pregnant she was sent away with the promise that when she had given birth she could come back and marry him.

"But they arranged a marriage for him with someone from his own social class and that was that. My mother was left to bring me up alone and I was never recognised as his daughter," she said, while refusing to name the landowning family "out of respect for their privacy".

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But she explained that her parentage was no secret and that her father often used to visit her at the school gates when she was growing up. He died of a brain tumour aged 47 in 1970 leaving a son as his only heir to an estate valued at 15 million euros.

It was not until after her own mother's death seven years ago that Mrs Reguera considered seeking formal recognition and a part of the family wealth.

"My mother was very proud and never wanted anything from that family. They said she was just after his money and so she kept her distance," Mrs Reguera, a mother of three, explained.

"But it is my right and that of my children to know their ancestry. I didn't do it for the money but to have recognition for who I am – but if my children and grandchildren can enjoy that legacy then why shouldn't they?"

She will now go to court for a 50 per cent share of the inheritance which her half-brother is likely to contest.

"My half brother won't talk to me," she complained, and when she launched her legal bid for recognition he incinerated the remains of his father and paternal grandparents to make DNA testing impossible.

Instead a judge ordered him to supply a DNA sample which showed there was a 99 per cent chance of them sharing a parent.